By Richard Johnstone | 21 May 2014
Involving users in public service delivery could unlock billions of pounds in savings, a report by the government’s reviewer of public service choice has concluded.
David Boyle, who conducted a review of the barriers to choice in public services for the coalition last year, said co-production – when services are delivered by members of the public alongside professionals – was envisioned by the father of the welfare state Sir William Beveridge six decades ago.
In a report for the CentreForum think-tank, Boyle said the model should be applied more widely to areas including health, housing and social care.
Examples of co-production already in practice in the UK include the use of citizen justice panels, co-operative nurseries and so-called time banks, where people offer services to members in areas such as health or housing, and choose those they would like in return.
There is potential to expand this model more widely, Boyle concluded in his Turbo charging volunteering: co-production and public service reform report.
However, there was a need to develop the supporting infrastructure to allow this, he said.
A nationwide plan should be developed to urge local public service providers to set up time banks and other community-based service models to better link provision.
Building local social networks should also be a requirement placed on public service contractors when outsourcing deals are agreed, alongside greater local control of spending.
Such an approach could help reduce need for services, and greater use of volunteers could also reduce the cost of ‘complex solutions’ in areas such as social care. Boyle said that if such an approach was applied to the treatment of long-term conditions in the NHS, at least £4.4bn could be saved, according to some studies.
‘Co-production denies that professionals are the only people required to do practical things,’ he added.
‘It also denies that everything necessary for support – whether in health, education or social care – can be paid for. Both of these were understood very well by Beveridge, but have been sidelined in the UK, and disastrously so.
‘The key issue in public services is how to unleash the huge resource that is represented by service users, their families and their neighbours, to make the system more human and more effective.’
